It should come as no surprise that sometimes people ask me where I came up with the idea for Something Strange and Deadly. My usual response involves a rambling, convoluted explanation about planets aligning, mystical dreams, and goat sacrifices. Well, I finally decided to just write it all out coherently. But if I’m going to […]
Wow. You did it. You finished Lesson 5, and now you’re almost at the end! Can you FEEL THE EXCITEMENT? This lesson will be (compared to the others) a piece of cake. The first part is completely mindless. Supplies Needed Today: A computer Your revised, scrawled-upon manuscript A comfy chair
You might be a little worn out from Lesson 4. No worries–take a break. Give yourself some time. It’s always good to get distance between you and your novel. Now, I realize that not everyone will print out their novel, and I know not everyone will revise by hand. That’s fine. Do what you do, […]
So, you figured out what your Perfect Book would be in Lesson 3. Now we’re going to take that and apply it to your novel. This part is fun–like, no joke, this step is one of my favorites for the ENTIRE novel-writing process. You’re calling on your left-brain for organization, and you’re calling on your […]
So, for the sake of this lesson, I’ll assume you’ve finished your outline in Lesson 2. If you haven’t finished, no worries! Come back here when you’re ready. Today we’re taking a tip from Holly Lisle, the Queen of Revisions. She calls it “Setting your Target” because how can you expect to hit a target […]
When you finish Lesson 1 (don’t worry if it takes a while!), your next objective will be to make an outline. Outlines help you see the WHOLE BOOK in a single glance–er…in a glance or two. Being able to quickly isolate scenes and segments without flipping through the whole novel will save you time. LOTS […]
If you saw the post on Wednesday, then you know where we’re heading with revisions. First, we have to make revision goals. To do that, we have to establish what you WANT to have when you finish revising. But to do that, you have to first know what you ACTUALLY have. We’re going to figure […]
Note: I am starting a “Revisions Workshop” on the blog that will basically outline How I Revise. There will be worksheets, and it will be go in what I hope is an orderly fashion. Today will be the Introduction, and Friday will be Lesson 1. ♥ 🙂 ♥ The purpose of this post (and my […]
Writing by hand–unless the house burns down or my dog get’s a hankering hunger for paper, it’ll be hard to lose these words. Of course, I always do revisions by hand. It’s time consuming, but it’s also a different way of thinking–and for me, that “different way” is the only way to solve story and […]
o here’s the deal, my friends: I’m swamped. Like the the above picture, only it’s worse because my swamp is filled with creatures called REVISIONS that like to eat little writers for breakfast. There are actually three kinds of monsters in this swamp: editorial revisions for SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY, personal revisions for SCREECHERS, and […]